Lamar RB Garrett preps for final home game

Christopher Dab, Beaumont Enterprise

By Christopher Dabe

Published 5:44 pm, Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Lamar running back DePauldrick Garrett charges down the field for a first down during Lamar University football game against McMurry University at Provost Umphrey Stadium on Saturday, October 13, 2012.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Lamar running back DePauldrick Garrett charges down the field for a...

DePauldrick Garrett began this season hopeful he would have another one to play after this.

A shoulder injury prevented Lamar's leading rusher from playing the final eight games last season. But because he already redshirted his first year out of high school at Navarro College, the senior from West Orange-Stark is not likely to receive a sixth year of eligibility.

Garrett plans to have "all of Orange" in Provost Umphrey Stadium for his final home game Saturday against Nicholls State (1-7, 0-5 Southland).

"I felt like I've been successful on the college level," Garrett said. "I won a national championship (in junior college), which I'm very thankful for. ... I feel like I accomplished a lot. When I leave the game, I won't feel like I left something behind."

Garrett said he received a medical redshirt from the Southland Conference and he is listed by Lamar (3-7, 0-5) as a redshirt junior. But he must be approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse to be eligible a sixth year.

A player granted a sixth year must prove a medical or personal hardship prevented him from playing in two of the first five seasons. Garrett said he does not expect to be awarded a sixth year because no apparent hardship prevented him from playing his first season after high school, in 2008.

"You have to have two missed opportunities that are out of the student-athlete's control," Henderson said.

Garrett, who graduated WO-S as the school's all-time leading rusher (3,257 yards), said another season at Lamar would have let him "be part of something better." Garrett hopes Saturday to help Lamar win a Southland home game for the first time since football returned in 2010.

Then he'll watch as a fan.

Garrett has rushed for 412 yards and two touchdowns in eight games this season. Coaches benched him for two midseason games and returned more determined, he said.

Garrett had shared carries for part of this season with sophomore running back Herschel Sims, but the transfer from Oklahoma State has not played since he bruised a knee in a game Oct. 13 and quit the team last week.

With two games left, Garrett is as determined as ever.

"This is my last season," Garrett said. "I wouldn't leave the game thinking that I left something behind."